Roque & Dauphinais Lead the Way in Recent Action

April 16, 2026

As the Spring Super Stack at Deerfoot Inn & Casino in Calgary rolls into the final weekend of action, two more events are in the books. Both games saw the cream of the local crop rise to the top, with a $1,000 6-Max on Tuesday and the $600 PLO on Wednesday.

Tuesday’s 6-Max game drew a crowd of 91 entries for prizes of $77,805, while on Wednesday, 73 four-card afficiandos got their game on to build a prize pool of $37,449.

With the biggest prize pools of the series still to come, the Spring Super Stack in on pace for a solid series result. There are 12 events completed now, with more than $435k in prizes awarded so far, on the back of more than 1,400 entries.

2026 Spring Super Stack Summary
Total Prizes	$435,751
Total Entries	1,407
Total 1st Place	$109,629

Stephen Dauphinais Takes 6-Max Title

Event #11: $1,000 $1k 6Max ($900 + $100)

Entries: 91
Prizes: $77,805
Winner: Stephen Dauphinais ($22,565)

It took almost 14 hours to play through the 91 entries in Tuesday’s 6-Max game, and in the end, Stephen Dauphinais was sitting behind all the chips. The game hit the money bubble about 9 hours in, and the bubble burst shortly after when Fraser Short hit the rail just before the money.

They were at the final table about an hour later, then played three more hours before the game was finally decided. Dean Morrone was first off the final table, but it took another hour before Karim Chatur was the next to exit. In between those two busts, Colten Yamagishi got there on Daniel Lefebvre after Lefe flopped a flush, but Yamagishi ran out to a riverboat.

Lefebvre survived a bit longer, but he followed Chatur to the rail about 30 minutes later, sending his chips to Dauphinais. Ronnie Dattani then took a couple of big pots to jump into the lead before Dauphinais put Jason Law on fumes before Yamagishi sent him home.

With play three-handed and 3 AM nearing, the action was moved to the poker room to finish it out. Shortly after they set up again, Dattani had his aces flushed out by Dauphinais. That set up the heads-up battle between Dauphinais and Yamagishi, with Dauphinais in the lead.

Yamagishi chipped back up again to nearly even; when the big final confrontation happened, the stacks were so close that Yamagishi was left with just 10k behind. The money went in on a flop that saw Yamagishi hit two pair, while Dauphinais was on top pair. The turn flipped the script to give Dauphinais a bigger two pair, and the river bricked. When the stacks were counted, Yamagishi had just 10k back.

He survived for a couple of hands after doubling, but the “two chips and a chair” story wasn’t to be for Yamagishi. He got his fumes in with nine-seven against jack-five, and when the board missed both hands, Dauphinais won it with jack-high.

Final Results for 6-Max

Place	Player	Prize
1	Stephen Dauphinais	$22,565
2	Colter Yamagishi	$17,117
3	Umang “Ronnie” Dattani	$11,671
4	Jason Law	$7,780
5	Daniel Lefebvre	$5,446
6	Karin Chatur	$3,890
7	Dean Morrone	$3,501
8	Jae Lee	$3,112
9	Jamil Kanji	$2,723

Julius Roque Goes Wire-to-Wire on FT to Win $600 PLO

Event #13: $600 PLO ($540 + $60)

Entries: 73
Prizes: $37,449
Winner: Julius Roque ($11,610)

It was a stacked final table in the $600 PLO, featuring Julius Roque, Kurtis Ruhl, Colten Yamagishi, Sebastian Crema, Fraser Short, Mal Hagan, and money bubble Jerry Li, but Roque had a stranglehold on the chips for most of it. He came into the final table with more than 1/3rd of the chips in play, and quickly chipped up to more than half the chips when they got into the 7 money spots.

That big chip differential led to an interesting dynamic with Roque sitting behind a mountain, and the rest of the money players all battling as short stacks in brutal ICM spots. That created a very long money game that saw them play seven-handed for more than an hour before Hagan finally succumbed as the first player out in the money.

It stalled again at six-handed for about an hour before Yamagishi, who was runner-up in the 6-Max the previous night, busted out in 6th place. Before Yamagishi lost his chips, Kurtis Ruhl, who dominated the HORSE game on Monday, parlayed fumes into a big stack, in part by calling out a double for himself before cards were even dealt.

Ruhl then cracked Yamagishi’s aces to send him out, and the floodgates finally opened, with Fraser Short, Sebastian Crema, and Joseph Leung going out in short order. That put Ruhl, who had been all-in at risk twice with play 6-handed, heads up against Roque, who hadn’t surrendered the chip lead through the entire final table.

By the time they got heads up, Ruhl was close to Roque in chips, and chipped up to even at one point. Roque was just running too hot, however, and when Ruhl potted the flop for most of his stack with top pair, and Roque tank called with an over pair of queens, Roque held for his 16th live win.

Roque apologized after the game for the long tank on the final hand. “I thought I was ahead,” he said, “but I knew I didn’t have many outs.” While he was playing a pair of queens, he had a 3rd queen in his hand, severely limiting his outs if Ruhl was on a set.

Roque was his customary humble self after the game. “I got lucky,” he said with a smile, and, of course, he was right. We always have to “get lucky” to win poker tournaments, even if it’s just winning more flips than we should. But with his 16th live win, and lifetime earnings that will be just a hair under $750k when this score is entered, it’s pretty clear that, aside from the luck that’s always required to win poker games, Roque has some skills in his bag as well.